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Collin Allen

NASA just transmitted a software update 12 billion miles to Voyager 2, a feat that’s a marvel of spaceflight engineering and a testament to human achievement. It arrived with the following release notes:

“Bug fixes.”

35 comments
Sebastian

@command_tab Working on update... don't turn off your spacecraft. This will take a while.

Philip C James

@JSSchlegel @command_tab Surely it was an update to monetise Voyager's downlink with ads for patent medicines and the last toothbrush you will ever buy?

Roadskater, Ph.D.

@JSSchlegel @command_tab At 16 bps bandwidth, you can bet on it taking a while.

RodneyPetersonTalentAgency

@command_tab

So long as it doesn’t collide with Nomad and inadvertently seek out the Roykirk in its new mission to sterilize hopefully all should be okay.

MissConstrue

@command_tab See, that’s what happens when you let engineers write the release notes.

2xfo

@MissConstrue @command_tab
As an engineer, I was missing the joke before 🫠

Oliver Schafeld

*and* they deployed on a weekend!

😱😆🤓

grundlichkeit

@command_tab wow, maybe that nasa dev should go working at volkswagen, at least they will have working OTA then 🙂

Elosha

@command_tab „Number 1 on the JPL app store: Unnamed operating system is the app of choice for Voyager users! Easily handle your daily spacefaring tasks with joy. Stay in contact with your friends on Earth, send them fun scientific data and unlock astronomical achievements! 😃

Included in this update: Small fixes and improvements. Enjoy the best Voyager experience ever!

Thank you for using unnamed operating system! Please leave a five star rating. ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️ “

Martin

@command_tab
"Please press the AllowUpdate button inside der lower hatch"

Toran

@command_tab wait until they 'update' Voyager 1, which is a test for. 😉

noodlejetski :verified_gay:

@command_tab we're always improving our product to provide the best interstellar travel experience

Leif

@command_tab "Operating system not found. Press any key to continue".

Anis

@command_tab c'est un véritable exploit de réussir à transférer une mise à jour logiciel aussi loin et un patch note en plus

Wolfram Rösler

@command_tab @trendytoots Transmitted at ridiculously low bandwidth halfway across the solar system and still finished faster than your average Windows update.

hnapel

@command_tab

OMG that they still found bugs after all this time (it launched 20 augustus 1977).

🛰️

hnapel

@command_tab

And I have packet loss to a switch in my bedroom...

Shyriath Farstrider

@command_tab I guess I can't complain about pushing patches at work ever again.

DROP TABLE fucksLeftToGive;

@command_tab more details won‘t be required. Whos gonna read the patchfiles on that thing, Aliens?

Caleon

@command_tab That's some really old device still getting software maintenance.

Alaric

@command_tab some star system on the other side of Voyager must wonder why they're getting a lot of weird messages from us.

Jalil

@command_tab I thought there were no bugs in space 🤔

stsimon

@command_tab
And yet I can't update my computer made only 5 years ago because it's no longer supported. Sigh

LeRoc

@command_tab Do you have an idea how big the update was? Is it measured in kilobytes? Megabytes? I would find it interesting to know that

Collin Allen

@leroc The total amount of working memory among its six computers (three types, x2 of each for redundancy) is about 70 Kilobytes, so I imagine the patch would be less than that. I’d bet that the actual diff is quite small.

LeRoc

@command_tab Personally, that they've been able to send this ridiculously low amount of data (by today's standards) over that distance and it still works, makes the engineering feat even more amazing.

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